Frowning a bit at Zim's words, Dib opened his mouth as though to argue before stopping himself and merely letting out a small sigh. "But...Oh, okay..." He nuzzled his face back into Zim's chest but this time didn't close his eyes as he let his good arm restlessly find its way up Zim's back to locate his antennae to play with a bit.

The small touch making them flick slightly, Zim jolted a bit at the sudden sensation before relaxing again and letting his eyes fall half-lidded. "Hmmmm..." He sounded out in a quiet purr.

Pulling his hand back at the small flick and jolt, Dib then gently reached his hand back up to take one of the thin appendages between two of his fingers. "S-Sorry..." He blushed as he very gently began to stroke it again in an attempt to distract himself from having to return back to sleep.

"Mmhmmm..." Zim closed his eyes and, careful not to hurt Dib's arm, took his hand to nuzzle softly to his cheek before sighing comfortably.

Cupping Zim's cheek in his palm to stroke gently, Dib's fingers twitched against the cool skin before he smiled a little and whispered gently. "I wish I had your skin right now." He said, the soft skin comforting him in a way that nothing else could.

Peeking one eye open, Zim looked at the other. "Hmm? Why's that, Dib?" He asked, nuzzling more against his warm hand.

Lifting his gaze, Dib looked back up at Zim. "Hmmm? Oh! I-It's really soft and...and nice and cool..." He said, smiling up at him a bit before brushing his thumb across Zim's cheek. "I wish my skin were like that right now because...because it's not really all that comfortable right now." He smiled even more as he nuzzled himself to Zim.

Zim blushed. "Well...Irken skin IS pretty amazing." He said, holding Dib's hand to his cheek. "But you're always so warm...It's nice. Probably not so nice for you though." He then said, sending him a slightly sympathetic look.

At the feel of Zim's hand on his own, Dib's eyes fell half-lidded. "It's not so bad when I'm not sick, but right now...right now it's just beyond tolerable. At times, I feel as though I can't even move because if I do...if I do, it will just hurt even more...But at the same time, I can't just lay here 24/7. Otherwise, I just feel like the room is getting even warmer. But with you here, I feel somewhat better whenever even just a little bit of your skin is pressed to mine. Because it's so nice and cool. It kind of feels like somebody pressing an ice pack to my skin." He said, eyelids fluttering slightly as he fought to keep them open.

Staring back at him for a moment, Zim looked down a little sadly before looking back at him again and smiling. Bringing up his other hand, he then rested it on Dib's warm cheek.

Sighing out contently at the small gesture, Dib finally let his eyes slip all the way closed. "Mmmm...That feels...really nice..." He said before yawning tiredly, finally beginning to drift back off again.

Rubbing a thumb lightly on his cheek, Zim continued to smile at Dib lazily. "Yeah..." He said before planting a small kiss on his forehead and nuzzling comfortably against Dib's hand on his own cheek.

Finally drifting off completely, Dib's breathing calmed as his hand near Zim's antennae fell away to just hang draped over the Irken's body.

An hour passing as he watched Dib sleep, Zim eventually felt himself beginning to drift off also and closed his eyes only to have them snap wide open again. Carefully sitting himself up, trying his best not to wake the other, he then pressed a hand back to Dib's cheek, sitting beside him and continuing to watch him sleep.

Shifting to his stomach underneath the covers, Dib let out a small whine in his sleep at all the movement before settling again. "Mmmm...Zim..." He mumbled as he pressed himself even closer to said alien.

Smiling down at him, Zim ran a hand through Dib's hair before looking around the room and sighing quietly.

It wasn't until a few hours later that Dib sat up suddenly in bed, coughing hoarsely into one hand for a few moments before bringing his free hand up to hold his head as he peeked his eyes open to look about the dark room, the strange looking machinery and shadows stretching across the floor and walls causing him to let out a small whimper and try to shuffle away from them in a small panic. Covering his eyes with both hands, he then curled in on himself as far back against the bed as he possibly could.

At Dib awakening so suddenly, Zim jumped a little. "Dib?" He crawled over to him and rubbed his hands on Dib's arms gently in an attempt to calm him, looking at him concerned. "What's wrong?" He asked, thinking that perhaps the boy had had a nightmare or something.

Removing his hands from his face to look at the other, Dib jolted a bit at the sudden feel of Zim placing his hands on him before letting out a startled cry as he shoved the Irken away onto the ground and scrambled to his feet, eyes wide with terror. "No! Stay away from me!" He stumbled into some medical equipment in the room, knocking it over onto the floor with a loud crash, causing him to jolt again and look back at it before letting out another terrified cry. Making an attempt to get away from it, he then whirled around just to see himself surrounded by an array of creepy-looking shadows and blurred figures, one of which was Zim. He backed up, all of them seeming to approach closer to him with each passing second. "No! All of you stay away from me!" He said again, his entire body trembling now as he couldn't identify one thing from another.

Extending a metal tentacle from his PAK for a short moment to flick on the lights, Zim stared down at Dib more confused than anything before grabbing his glasses and kneeling down in front of him, holding out the glasses to him. "Calm down. No-one else is here. Just Zim, see?" He tried to calm the other the best he could but to no avail.

Slapping the glasses to the side and shuffling away from the Irken, Dib merely continued to panic. "I said to stay away!" he screamed before his eyes grew wide suddenly as he winced in pain and grasped at his chest for a few moments before forcing his eyes open to look about the room, everything in there morphing even more into some sort of horrible nightmare world. Gasping for air, he then shook his head, repeating himself over and over again. "No...No...No...Stay away...I want to go home...I want...I want to go home..." He looked back up towards the door of the room, everything spinning as all he could see now were hundreds of eyes staring in at him, those eyes merely being the eyes of other hospital patients who had woken up because of him and come out of their rooms to see what all the commotion was about.

"Eep!" Zim quickly put on his disguise before anyone saw and then stood to turn and scowl at all the people, shaking a fist up at them. "Hey! Go back to your own stinking rooms and mind your own business!" He demanded, ignoring them and turning back to Dib, who he knelt down in front of again. "Dib, what's wrong with you? I don't understand..." He continued trying to speak to him as calmly as he could to settle him down.

"What's going on in here?" The nurse stood in the doorway now before turning to the other patients. "Alright. All of you back to bed." She said before walking into the room as all the others left.

Zim turned to the nurse. "I don't know. He just freaked out, okay!?" He exclaimed, not wanting to be blamed for this again.

"Let me take a look at him." The nurse approached nearer to Dib slowly. "Dib? Are you alright?" She asked in a soft voice so as not to startle him anymore than he already was.

Backing up as her blurred figure approached closer to him, Dib jolted at her sudden closeness and forced himself up onto his feet again. "Stop! Stay back! Leave me alone!" He bumped into a chair in the room that he stumbled into and grabbed it, holding it between himself and her, threatening to swing or throw it at her.

As soon as Dib had grabbed hold of the chair, the nurse backed up and turned to Zim. "Do you think you can get ahold of him and hold him down?" She asked, knowing this was now a two person situation.

Not liking the idea very much, Zim looked up at the nurse before turning back to Dib again. "...Okay..." He said before darting over to Dib, pulling the chair off him quickly and grabbing him from behind, only making Dib panic and struggle against him even more. "Rhnngh! Dib, enough of this already!!" He said as he struggled to hold him still, finally managing after a few moments to place the glasses back over Dib's eyes.

Trying to twist himself this way and that in an attempt to escape, Dib continued to struggle desperately against Zim but to no avail. "Let me go! Let me go! Don't touch me! Please! Just let me go!" He screamed, unable to do anything more in that moment.

Taking this moment as her opportunity to get a better look at him, the nurse placed a hand on his forehead before pulling back quickly and pulling out a thermometer to force into his mouth and hold there until it beeped. Taking it out a minute or so later, she then looked at it once she had gotten an accurate reading. "His temperature has skyrocketed since I last took it. It must be causing him hallucinate." She looked back up at Zim. "Wait here. I'll be right back with a temporary fever reducer that should help him to calm down until the doctor is able to have another look at him in the morning." She said, leaving the room to retrieve the fever reducer, leaving Zim with the struggling Dib still fighting desperately to get away from him.

Remember to take part in our contest guys! No deadline yet so you have plenty of time to make entries! -> [link]

An old and still ongoing RP by and myself. Originally the RP was written in script so has ficafied these chapters to make them readable for you, so make sure you guys give her lots of love for making these chapters out of the RP ^^